The 3-mercaptopropionic acid is a useful compound as a raw material of an organic synthetic product including an agricultural chemical and a medicine, a stabilizer of polyvinyl chloride, a crosslinking agent of an epoxy resin or an acrylic acid ester polymer, or a raw material of a plastic lens monomer.
A method for producing a 3-mercaptopropionic acid by hydrolysis of 3-mercaptopropionitrile is known, and a method of chemical hydrolysis of 3-mercaptopropionitrile has been carried out with the addition of an acid or a base (for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). In addition, Patent Documents 6 and 7 disclose a method for chemically synthesizing a 3-mercaptopropionic acid from acrylonitrile.
Also, a method of hydrolysis of a nitrile compound or an amide compound under mild conditions using a microorganism has been reported in many cases (for example, Non-Patent Documents 1 to 3, and Patent Documents 3 and 4). Patent Document 5 discloses a method of hydrolysis of 3-mercaptopropionitrile using a microorganism.